Jaccar to offload stake in Sinopacific

The sale of the stake in Sinopacific would serve to facilitate the next step of growth for the shipyard without the limitations that could come from the fact that one of the yard's shareholders, in this case a shipowner, is competing with its other clients, Chateauvieux explained.

“During the foundation of the company [Sinopacific] and the time needed for the company to get recognised by shipowners, it was instrumental that we [Bourbon] be a shareholder,” Chateauvieux told Seatrade Global at the sidelines of the 8th Singapore Maritime Lecture held on Wednesday.

“But today I think it is detrimental because many shipowners consider that they are not going to go to Sinopacific because it is so-called 'my yard'. If I step out of the yard, it will be a good opportunity for the yard to build up relationships with other shipowners without a renowned shipowner being part of it,” he said.

France-based Bourbon, an offshore marine and services provider which owns some 484 diversed offshore vessels, is undoubtedly one of Sinopacific's biggest customers to date.

Jiang Qiang, co-ceo of Sinopacific, had told Seatrade Global in an earlier interview that due in part to Bourbon's chairman who controls Jaccar Holdings, which in turn owns 23.5% stake in Sinopacific, there has been misinformation in the market that Sinopacific is building exclusively for Bourbon.

Jiang highlighted that Sinopacific has fabricated a lot of offshore support vessels (OSVs) not only for Bourbon, but also for many other shipowners such as Deep Sea Supplies.

Chateauvieux said it remains unclear when the sale of the share will be completed. He pointed out that due to the global shipbuilding recession, shipowners do not have a good image of many yards, especially Chinese yards where their value have largely hit rock-bottom. But this could also generate more interests for potential partners to get a good deal in buying over the shares of Sinopacific.